Character

28/12/2016.        945. All Members,          Respected family members of this great holy Nation. Part-4. 4.1 In Tamil Nadu with the emergence of Periyar, who had an all-encompassing vision for and commitment to the Dalits and women as well as a mass base among the majority non-Brahman castes. Yet, the strength of the Tamil movement was also its weakness. As no leader like Ambedkar emerged, the Dalit part of the overall movement remained weak. 4.2 The question still remains: once autonomy, self-respect and some empowerment are achieved for the most downtrodden, how will the movement go forward to seek a wider unity and the annihilation of caste? Here it is necessary to consider and reconsider the answer given by Periyar and the Tamil non-Brahman movement generally: that the way forward is through a kind of national liberation, a recognition of a positive alternative community which was taken to be a "Dravidian'' identi...